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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2005
- Title: Woody Detritus Survey: Initial Results from the Hemlock Manipulation Study
- Author: Natalie J Levy (University of California - Berkeley)
- Abstract:
The Hemlock Manipulation Study contrasts hemlock decline from hemlock woolly adelgid and logging. The woody detritus survey that I conducted relates to the goals of the study by providing baseline data that can be collected periodically to investigate dead wood contribution to forest productivity, nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and habitat availability. My research question was: how do dead wood stocks vary among the different treatments of the hemlock study in terms of total mass, decay class, and species? I used line-transects to sample Coarse Woody Debris (CWD, downed wood >7.5cm diameter) and Fine Woody Debris (FWD, downed wood from 0.6cm-7.5cm diameter). Snags and stumps were sampled along 4m wide strip plots that straddled the line-transects. CWD was most abundant in logged plots; however FWD did not show a strong pattern by treatment. Snags and stumps also did not show a strong pattern by treatment. The most CWD was in decay class #1 in the logged treatment. The most snags and stumps were in decay class #1 across treatments. Hemlock dominated CWD composition, particularly in the logged treatment. Hemlock was the most abundant snags and stump species across all hemlock treatments. Results show that CWD stocks reflect the logged treatment, whereas snags and stumps reflect initial forest composition. In conclusion the initial effects of the experiment can be seen as an increase in the amount of downed dead wood in the logged plots. This survey sets the stage to examine the long-term response of woody detritus to hemlock girdling and logging.
- Research Category:
